Privately-Funded Local Paper Takes On Johnston

Former Westminster Press employee Eve Atkins is set to take on Johnston Press in the Hemel Hempstead area with the launch of a new free weekly newspaper called Dacorum Independent. Published by No Problem Publishing, the company set up by Atkins, the title will compete with Johnston’s paid-for title Hemel Hempstead Gazette, and its freeHemel Hempstead Herald Express.

The Dacorum Independent is to be distributed across 58,000 homes across the Hertfordshire borough of Dacorum which includes the towns of Berkhamsted and Tring as well as Hemel Hempstead. The Herald Express currently circulates at around 55,000 copies.

Atkin has been involved in newspapers since the late 1970s, starting her career at Thomson Regional Newspapers selling advertising space. She has recruited a team of directors to work on the Dacorum Independent and describes setting up the title as ‘fulfilling a dream’.

The paper’s editor Ian Pickering says: “We will be a very human newspaper; prepared to come off the fence when the situation demands it. Although a free – the editorial/advertising ratio has been set at 30/70 – it will be a serious, intelligent newspaper which involves readers, tackles issues, serves its community but never loses its sense of humour.”

The paper will be published every Wednesday and the first copies will be distributed to homes on 4 March.

No Problem Publishing: 01442 264 464